Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) Copy Protection / Internet account authorisation

Ok.... maybe this is just a brain-fart... and maybe not...

As far as i know everyone that bought and played Beyond Divinity hated / had a issue with Starforce... the whole disc checking procedure etc.... Which i think is absolutely fair.... starforce caused more hassles than protecting the game....
For the same matter, no copy protection actually proved effective as yet. Doom 3, also with SF protection, was cracked within 3 hours of the game release!!

Now a relatively new (or not so new, but it had limited media coverage) idea is becomming popular. Games with ABSOLUTELY NO copy protection.... BUT, in order to play you need an authorised account on the game server. You do not pay per month, merely for the game and then have a lifetime account on the game server.

I am in a way refering to Guildwars... but only in example....

Advantages of internet authorisation:
1. Network games globally with no extra setup regardless of your team mates being next to you / across the globe.
2. No copy protection that can stuff up your system, cause extra bugs, require disc checks every time you load it.
3. A game that will work no matter what version of Windows comes out next... since there will be no driver handling, and no security issues.
4. Very low internet bandwidth needed - even people with a slow connection can enjoy the game fully.
5. If a friend wants a copy, by all means give it to him.... he will still pay the same amount for his account, than you paid for the game and account.

Disadvantages:
1. Internet connection vital for the duration of gameplay. (only an issue for dialup users - which are becomming less and less)
2. Should anything happen to the game-server, you cant play. (but i think that will be the resposibility of the producers and gaming companies to maintain a good server-uptime record. As with Guildwars, i think we have an example that it can be maintained without any issues


So now i am wondering.... what would you guys and gals prefer????
The old system of copy protections that make us pull out our hair... or to try a newish system that has proven much less hassles...

I've no net connection on my home PC, so internet authorisation means I wont be buying any online games, or insane things like half life 2 and it's awful steam account thing.

Of course online games are for online only, but with half life 2 I really wanted it, until I found out what you had to do in order to play it.

So I had to get an illegal version of it which wouldn't have happened had the game just had some other usual protection.

Copy protected games should only prevent, or lets be true, they slighty 'hinder' people who want to copy it. It should never interfer with a regular game buyer, which I am.

NO to internet authorisation.

The problem is not the Copyprotection, or the Internet Authorisation.
The problem is that there are people who think they can have something without to pay for it.
After all, you can handle it how you like, there are thieves who cracked the Games.

Only the honestly user is the idiot, he pay for the protection which will korrupt his System, or he need to offer his personal datas.

But if i must take a choice, i prefer the Internet Autorisation.
Why? If i bought a Game for my Money everybody can know it, and at least it can be more comfortable than a copyprotection.

You can get past pretty much any copy protection, so I'd rather take the internet one, since it doesn't screw with my system (you COULD see that the non-online copy protection is a way of revenge on the non-buyers, but it screws with the buyers as well, which is not good).

That certain pepole downloads games is today a fact which game developers pretty much has to accept, since that is hard to change.

It feels like the pirates are way ahead of the gamedevelopers.

Übereil

Honestly, it will be cracked, poeple will make their own "cracked" servers running at the local machine. This has been done for Half Life2, so for offline games it's trying to stop something that will always be here, theft...

Anyway that said, it has is pro's and cons for me it's pro for Cleggie it's a con. Nobody actually wins.

Huh? I didn't post anything here.

I think it was either supposed to be plowking (who posted that he doesnt have internet at home) or he knows something that we dont... or he wanted you to post <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

My mistake, meant Plowking idd

We'll just call everyone Freddy or something like that, it makes it much easier, at least for us.

3. Problems for people in areas with low bandwidth, huge costs or no internet connection at all.


Some years ago I read the story of an innocent american scientist. You know, the US have always had good internet connections.

Innocently, he sent an e-mail with scientific papers to a Russian scientist of the same field, which was several MB big.

This e-mail, that's what the Russian scientists said in that article, was so hge, it consumed several months salary of him. So high were the costs back then !

Internet connections are imho rather a "western" thing. I don't think anyone on this globe has the possibility to build up such a connection.

Let's say in a country there are only internet cafe's, and nothing else. No other internet available.
How would a person be able to play the game, then ?

In areas where the connection is well established and doesn't cost much, it makes sense. But on the other hand that excludes several other players in areas which are not so good equipped.

Hmmm my 2 gp's, with Neverwinter Nights Premium Modules, when bought online and downloaded they have a server check on your cd key, and every time you load the game ... yes even when you re-load you get a 10 sec delay in Internet checking, .... on the other hand it has to positive side of no copy protection, you can always have the game as it is registered to your account so if your PC crashes blows a HD or what ever you can easily get it back, it is also very cheap ... thus the premium mods sell for about $8-9.00 US and the latest I have been playing for more than a week now and I am not even half way.

Yes you need the Internet but even on 28.8 it will only take a few seconds and it wont eat your bandwidth .... IOW it works for me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I agree with Freddy. However, I disagree with Freddy.

i'll trade you 2000 cps for you 2 gp <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

the online security sounds nice if everyone around the world didn't have to pay for their internet provider, somepeople don't have 200k or want to pay for online at all

what about the future of single player games
while new games force you to buy new hardware
why not force the consumers to buy a faster internet network or isp as well

but im not evil, its bad enough how things are with all bs going around, but why say that im not against new technology especially with the graphics. A couple of years down the road, the next dnd game or medieval rts will be god like with nice game play

but this isn't a perfect world, and the people at the top aren't what they seem
my 2 copper pieces for your thoughts

vote no on proposal a <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

i would grudgingly consider buying a copy protection game cd but i won't even think of buying an online-verification game at all.

thing is; i am not one who really like his PC to be online the whole time & especially for my home PC, i rather it be totally offline (maybe just connected to a LAN) as i like to separate my really personal stuff from an online PC.

what Virgo asked is something i share as well; what do these mean to single-player games? what is the future for it?

i vote for potatoe as i don't like copy protection & i dislike online verification for a bloody offline single-player game. if it does it only once just like winXP or adobe softwares do, then i might even consider online verification.

maybe when it comes to worst case scenario, i might take a risk in buying a copy protection cd then download a hacked version or something to cripple the copy protection.

No to internet authorisation. I may be one of few, but I've never had a problem with disc checking. I'd hate to take a laptop on vacation and be denied my favourite form of entertainment. Also, I doubt it's much harder to crack than disc checking. Hackers will release (and have released) fake servers that look like the real thing to provide the codes the game needs.

there's maybe another possibility.
what about a hardware key,?
a some kind of modified usb-stick you have to plug in your pc before you can play the game?

A dongle...are they still used?

They're easily cracked too I believe, and having to use them could be a pain. Also, what if it broke?

Bring back the old days of copy protection...you have to look in your manual, on a certain page, 3 lines down, 4th word, and type it in to start the game!!

Just kidding....

Freddy

WHat if you broke your cd or dvd... ? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

I really loathe the idea of internet checking. It makes everything a lot easier for hackers, spy/adware and viruses to get at your system.

Don't forget, all the time you are playing your game you will be online - with no idea of what is happening behind the game screen. In that time, you are absolutely vulnerable to hackers.

Sure, copy protection can be a pain - but at least it isn't an open invitation to anyone who wants a shot at your system.

The other thing is - what happens if a company goes bust? Its server goes offline, and every single one of the games you have by that company are completely unusable forever thereafter because the internet checking system will be unable to connect to anything.

It also won't make games more forward compatible than copy protection, because the main problems are usually more to do with advances in DirectX or Video/Sound Cards making old games obsolete because they are trying to use features that no longer exist because they are so outmoded.

All in all, I consider internet checking to be a system with many drawbacks and no positives whatsoever. Like Plowking, I won't touch any game that has it.

Then you're screwed...but a dongle would be just another thing to break, or lose in addition to your cd/dvd, thus multiplying the lose/breakage by a factor of 2...see I thought about that!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />.

Plus you'd probably be paying for that extra 'hardware' cost for them to make those things.